Defending Mapleshore
by ribby97
Summary: Discover the ingenious way that Aiela protected her village. This short pokemon story is set in a medieval world, with fantasy elements. AU and OCs
1. Chapter 1

All was peaceful in the little village of Mapleshore on the night that it happened. Most folk were asleep when it began, though the blacksmith Aiyu was busy at his forge. Aiyu was one of those people who never seemed to rest, and worked almost ceaselessly.

Others were also awake on that fateful night. Turin, a boy of 16, was fishing on the pier, hoping to catch something more valuable than a lousy magikarp and Orinodo, the captain of the tiny, ramshackle group that called themselves the Mapleshore Guard, paced up and down in his bedroom as he attempted to shake a bout of insomnia.

The alchemist, Aiela, muttered calculations to herself as she poured a vessel of tiny yellow crystals into a vial full of a clear liquid. As soon as the crystals came into contact with the surface of the liquid, a reaction began. A swirling cloud of black smoke was given off by the mixture, which bubbled and boiled, turning cloudy and then the colour of cider.

Eagerly reaching for the pair of iron tongs that sat to her left, Aiela reached into the container, and pulled out the small golden jewel that now sat in its very centre. Beaming happily, even as the tongs she had used dissolved into twisted metal stumps, and became useless. Aiela picked up the newly formed stone and placed it in the palm of her hand.

"Finally, I've done it," she murmured softly, gazing into the iridescent, swirling patterns on the stone's surface for a moment, before placing it on her work-bench. She opened a drawer containing about half a dozen similar minerals, the only major difference being that these were blue in colour.

She compared the two varieties, hands shaking, barely able to contain her excitement. These were no ordinary precious gems; these were entities of raw, elemental power, capable of causing powerful and irreversible changes to particular pokémons' very beings.

She had successfully created the Water Stone several weeks ago, and had stayed up late every night since in the hopes of making another breakthrough. She'd already identified several creatures that were affected by the Water Stone's presence, and knew that testing the new artefact would prove an interesting task. Just then, there came a frantic knock at the door.

* * *

Turin sighed and lay down his fishing pole despondently. Why could he never catch anything? He wished he could blame his rod, but it was pretty much perfect, a beautifully carved gift from his father.

His life-long ambition was to be a great fisherman, like his father, grandfather and pretty much every other man in the family had been. When he'd been younger, his parents had told him not to worry, fishing was in their blood and one day he would find his natural talent. As time drew on however, it had become clear to them that Turin had little or no talent where fishing was concerned, though no-one had the heart to tell him.

They needn't have worried. Turin knew he was hopeless. The fact was, he found fishing boring at the best of times. On a hot day it could be very relaxing, but otherwise it was mind-numbingly tedious. He just couldn't see the appeal.

The flapping of wings made him turn around to see a small butterfree flitter over his shoulder. He watched it as it flew out over the bay, silver moonlight shining on its wings. He sighed again, this time a sigh of contentedness. For Turin's dislike of fishing was mirrored only by his love of pokémon. He loved to just observe them, feeling invisible as they went about their business. A perk of his occupation was that he had a lot of time to kill, meaning he could gape at the nearby creatures for as long as he liked.

The butterfree was almost out of sight now, nearly swallowed up by the thick blanket of fog that covered the horizon. Another moment passed, and he could no longer see the pokémon.

But he could see something else, a silhouette, barely visible. He stared at the shape and for a moment couldn't believe that what he saw could be anything other than another bank of fog. A second later and this idea was proven to be incorrect. He could definitely see a vague outline of some kind of object. Fearing the worst, he peered into the distance. Sure enough, as the object came into clearer focus, he saw that it was a ship. Another could be seen just behind it, and a third loomed out of the fog, further to the right. It could only be an invasion!

Forgetting all else, Turin ran as fast as he could towards the village. As he ran, his brain screamed one thought at him over and over again. He had to alert the town, before it was too late. His distress was so great, that he ran straight up to the nearest house he came to and began hammering on the door, whilst panting with tiredness.

* * *

Aiela sighed and carefully lay down the tools of her trade. She answered the door and was surprised to see Turin standing on her doorstep. Before she could ask him what on earth he could possibly need at this time of night that was important enough to distract her from her work, he began to speak.

"IwasontepeerfishinanIsorship sonthehoriseonanIwasentsurbu itlookdlikaninvasionparte" he blurted out.

Aiela blinked, nonplussed. "What?" She asked, rather tersely. "Speak slower boy, for heaven's sake!"

Turin tried again. "I was on the pier and I saw ships on the horizon. It looked like an invasion party."

"Invaders? You're quite sure about that? The Icehawks haven't been active in this part of the kingdom for years." Aiela seemed doubtful, until she saw the wild panic in Turin's expression. She sighed, as though this was merely a minor inconvenience. "In that case, why did you run here and not to the alarm bell?

Turin's eyes widened. "I...I...I"

Aiela glared at him. "Go!" She cried, watching with satisfaction as he skedaddled in the direction of the alarm bell. Before he disappeared around the corner, she called after him. "Once you've done that, come back here, I'm going to need your help!"

Then she returned to her desk upstairs and began to assemble a device that she'd created a long time ago. This time, however, it was going to serve an entirely different purpose, she just had to make a few quick alterations.


	2. Chapter 2

Orinordo marched up and down the tiny beach, issuing instructions to anyone who didn't look like they were doing something important. Mapleshore's small bay was alive with activity. Not only were the whole of the Mapleshore Guard present, in their gleaming (if dented) armour, many of the villagers had joined them, keen to protect their town.

There could only have been about a hundred of them however, and, although they held an advantage whilst their enemy were still in their boats, once they reached land it would be another story entirely. The three boats must have contained far more than a thousand men altogether. He knew that they weren't going to be able to win this battle; it wouldn't even be close. How could this rabble of untrained, badly armed townspeople possibly hope to hold out against an army of powerful Icehawk warriors?

The ships definitely belonged to the Icehawks, of that there was no doubt. Their sails were striped blue and white and they flew a white flag with a black bird's claw. Most worryingly, the flagship of the small fleet had been recognised as the Ice Star. This ship was owned by a legendary Icehawk chieftan, Raki. If the rumours were to be believed, and they were by many, Raki had once killed an abomasnow with his bare hands. The Ice Star was close enough for Orinordo to make out its fear-inspiring wooden dragon figurehead, which portrayed the mighty kyurem. He might have just imagined it, but he thought that he'd glimpsed Raki on the ship, sat astride his powerful mammoswine pokémon.

Orinordo looked over to his pidgeot, realizing that he couldn't afford to waste any more time. They had to slow the ships down, even if they couldn't find a way to stop them. He ordered those who could to split into teams of flying and swimming pokémon, and then beckoned to his pokemon, patting the bird's neck as he clambered onto its specially designed leather saddle.

A small group of water pokémon, ridden or held by their trainers, and led by a couple of lapras, shot off towards the ships. They used a range of water attacks to create currents, pushing against the boats, and slowing their progress to a crawl.

This didn't go unnoticed, however, and it wasn't long before the Icehawks retaliated, a row of shelder, shooting spears of ice towards the vulnerable pokémon. One of the lapras riders shouted out the command to fall back, and was cut short when an ice beam blasted his suddenly limp form into the water. The watchers on the shore looked on, aghast, as the broken squadron began to fall back, still being cut down by deadly ice techniques.

The flying group had slightly better luck. Orinordo knew that it was practically unheard of for an Icehawk to show prowess with a bow, so their only concern was those attacks which could be fired fast and far enough to hit them. An enormous icicle fell harmlessly beneath him, and he smiled grimly as he saw it dispatch one of the warriors on board the ship he was attacking. Aurora beams shot past him, passing dangerously close, but nothing could keep up with his pidgeot.

He tugged the reins downwards slightly, and the enormous bird dropped into a swoop, tearing through the ships sail with its claws, causing it to flap loose and creating havoc below. As he came close to the deck, coming in for the kill, pidgeot gave a shrill squawk and rolled away to the left. Orinordo barely clung on, but fortunately managed to keep his grip. Fortunately, because razor sharp tusks followed him as he made his ascent. A huge four legged hairy creature with blue markings on its face tossed its head upwards, and Orinordo saw its master, a monster of a man wielding an axe in both hands, and wearing war paint that matched his beast's patterning. He gave a roar of fury as Orinordo escaped him, and he realized that this could only be Raki.

The other flyers turned to gape at the fearsome appearance of the warrior and it was that moment of uncertainty that allowed the Icehawks attacks to strike home; dead birds and screaming trainers plummeted into the ocean or, if they were unlucky, onto the ships. Orinordo could see that they were suffering unacceptable numbers of casualties, and blew a whistle, ordering his group to retreat. As he returned he shook his head sadly, they hadn't done nearly enough.

When Aiela and Turin arrived at the beach, they were met by a stone-faced ragtag group, prepared, and expecting to fight and die for their freedom. Some gave them and the strange device they held curious glances, but most glared in the direction of their attackers, determined to be defiant to the last.

Turin watched as Aiela fitted a few more pipes into place, then took the small box he was carrying, and, shooing him away, began to carefully tip its contents into a container in the back of the contraption.

The device was extraordinarily complicated, a heavy muddle of metal pipes that seemed intricately knitted together for the sole purpose of looking obscure. Aiela had originally designed it to be used to extinguish fires for those without water pokémon, but its unwieldiness made it fairly redundant. She'd made some changes to the way that it used air pressure, and it should now be capable of launching a projectile at least fifty feet, though not with any particular strength.

Strength wasn't what she needed in this instance, what she really needed to do was ensure that the box's contents were launched far enough that the boats were between them and the shore. She chose her angle carefully and fired.

A blue object soared through the air, and the Icehawks on board the Ice Star stopped to watch it as it curved gently over their ship, landing with a splash behind it. Both sides were intrigued, the Icehawks worried, and the audience on the shore felt a glimmer of hope, where before there had been none. This hope was short-lived however, as nothing happened, and one or two of the Icehawk's burst out laughing.

The laughter soon turned into gasps however, as the surface of the water began to bubble and ripple, a circle of azure light shining up from the depths into the darkness. As Aiela fired her device again and again, more rings of activity were created where each missile landed. One projectile landed on the Ice Star, at the feet of Raki, who bent to pick it up. He stared inquisitively at the small blue crystal for a moment, and then angrily crushed it in his fist.

The first ring of light died gradually, and the surface of the ocean was calm where it had been. Then, a great jet of water exploded upwards, as an enormous blue serpent shot into the air. It leant over the ship, and gave an immense roar, the force of which caused several of the terrified men on board to be blown back a couple of feet. It was a gyarados, the gargantuan pokémon described so aptly by sailors as the "devil of the sea".

All around, more and more of these pokémon were emerging and the sound of them drowned out Raki's commands to abandon ship. Just one gyarados was capable of destroying an entire city, so what defence could they possibly utilise against several? At the bottom of the sea, harmless magikarp were drawn to the Water Stones like moths to a flame, as though they could sense the power within them. In a flash of white light, they evolved into one of the most powerful pokémon in existence, and proceeded to do what every gyarados does from the moment when it first evolves until its death, destroy everything it sees.

The ships were consumed in a collision of fire, water, electricity and muscle, hardened wooden planks crumpling like leaves, death came quickly to the Icehawks, it was, as they had expected, a massacre, though not in the way they had hoped.

For those on the shore, the flashy spectacle lasted less than a minute, but once it was over, the damage that had been done was of the scale that their army couldn't have inflicted in an hour. They stared in awe, unable to believe what had just happened, even after the action had finished.

Orinordo unsuccessfully attempted to get everyone to run from the shore but fortunately the serpentine pokémon did not try to attack them, the sea here was too cold for their liking, and they fled south, in search of more tropical waters.

As Aiela packed away her device, which many of the villagers were already calling "The Icebreaker", Turin stood quite stationary, and looked out into the sea, still shocked. One thing was certain, he would never see fishing in the same light again.


End file.
